Wireless networking questions

[JohnnyFlash]

We have a Linksys BEFSR41 router on a cable Internet connection. I would like to get a wireless setup going with my iPaq.

I'm thinking a D-Link DCF650W CompactFlash nic and either a Linksys WAP11 or, preferably, a BEFW11S4-CA router/WAP.

Does anyone know if this setup will work?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[JohnnyFlash]

You shouldn't have any trouble. A lot of companies, including D-Link, Symbol, and Linksys recommend that you use access points and wireless nic's that are the same brand, however with the 802.11b standard you should be able to plug and play!

[Al @Work]

I had an existing home LAN with a BEFSR41 router. My solution, after a lot of lurking on various sites, was to purchase an ORiNOCO RG-1000 Residential Gateway (wireless). It was in incremental upgrade to the network. The RG-1000 plugs into one port on my router. The RG-1000 is configured as a 'bridge', so its NAT and built-in DHCP sever are disabled. My router's built-in DHCP server assigns IP addresses to my iPAQ 3630 (running PPC 2002/SP1) with an ORiNOCO Silver NIC (wireless) and hardwired guest devices. My normal desktops and the RG-1000 all use static IP addresses.

The Silver card uses 64-bit encryption. The RG-1000 is setup as a "Closed" system, meaning you can not use the network ID of "ANY" and only certain wireless client NICs (currently my iPAQ only) are allowed via MAC address authentication. Look at this page for details on that...

http://www.cablemodeminfo.com/quicktip-orinococlosednetwork.html-ssi

Good luck...

[fsqyb]

I have a Linksys cable router going to my pc (win2k)
on my PC I also have a wireless NIC.
I enabled ICS on the NIC that talks to the router.
My laptop and Ipaq are surfing no problem!!

[brntcrsp]

I have a question about some network configuration. I too have a Linksys BEFW11S4. I would like to add it to my current network, but not have it set as the gateway between the Web and my LAN (I already have a machine doing just that). I would like to plug the Linksys into the LAN and have the wireless devices be able to view the resources of the other machines on the network.

This is what I envision the network would look like:


w |--- N --- |
w --- LS --- G --- Internet
w |--- N --- |


(w) are the wireless devices.
(LS) is the router.
(N) are machines on the LAN.
(G) is the existing gateway

Any thoughts as to what the best method would be to accomplish this?

[mike6024]

So you want your PCs on the LAN to each have 2 NICs and be plugged into two routers?
Why not just do this:


w
w ------ LS -- |
w |
N --- |
G --- Internet
N --- |

[phr0ze]

To the original question.

First go read some reviews on the Linksys WAP or Wireless Routers. THey get lousy range. MY father has the wireless router and it SUCKs for range. I bought the SMC WAP and plugged it into my Linksys BEFSR41. It works GREAT. It also is rated for some of the best range. It only costs about $115 from buy.com with free shipping. I am a huge linksys fan and would never reccomend against them except in this case.

Now for Wireless CF cards. I have the Dlink 650 and it has been super! It barely drains my battery and the range is good.

If you are after a PCMCIA wireless card... look at the 3Com with XJack (About $115). Finally I can have a PCMCIA 802.11b WITHOUT something sticking out of my laptop! :) (Of course you have to stick it out for full range but you don't have to remove the card when you want to pack up!)

Later

[hobbes234]

won't a router with a built in ap work?
can someone kindly enlighten me?

[Dave Beauvais]

... First go read some reviews on the Linksys WAP or Wireless Routers. THey get lousy range. ...
I have an original Linksys WAP11 access point, hardware revision 1.0. They're now up to v2.2 which adds Web-based configuration and enhanced range. (Prior to v2.2, you had to use a quirky combination of USB and SNMP configuration software to manage the access point.)

My point in responding to this thread is to say that it's not the Linksys access points that suck; it's their earlier PC cards. Even my first-generation WAP11 has outstanding range. But, the first-generation WPC11 PC Cards had horrible, horrible range and "performance," if you can call it that. They'd lose connections with the access point just by walking a few feet away from the access point. A few months later, Linksys released the WPC11 v2 cards which had stronger antennae and a new release of the Prism WiFi chipset. Since then, they've also released the v2.5 and now the newest v3.0 cards.

Most people just assumed that all of Linksys' wireless equipment was bad because they usually bought the WAP11 and a WPC11 card at the same time. When they saw the horrible range, they returned them both and bought another brand, which would then work fine.

Each generation of Linksys card seems to get better in terms of range and power consumption, but I got burned by an original WPC11 card, returned it, and bought an Agere (formerly Lucent) ORiNOCO Gold card to use with my WAP11 access point. I can go anywhere in the house and still have a strong 11 Mbps connection. Outside the house, I can walk down the street about four houses before the signal is lost entirely. If I go inside my next-door neighbor's house, however, the signal cuts off earlier because of all the walls and such between us. I can walk around the room closest to my house, but not much else.

For my Casio E-200, I use Socket Communications' CF Wireless LAN card (http://www.socketcom.com/product/wlan.htm). This thing never fails to amaze me. Its range is better than my ORiNOCO card, allowing me to walk down the street almost six houses and walk through most of my neighbor's house.

If you already have a router that you're happy with, the WAP11 is a great access point to add to your network. Otherwise, the AP/router combos are also really good.

Dave

[seanturner]

I have a the Linksys basestation with the 4 port switch and two WAP11's. Version 2.5. The basestation's router component broke, and let me tell you, Linksys support sucks. I sent it to Linksys to fix it, and they sent it back saying it worked fine. Then, I called back and sent it in again, and it came back not working at all. I pluged it in and nothing happened. Each time I sent it in, it took them 3 weeks to turn it around mind you. After I got it back for the second time, I tried to contact a manager or VP of custormer service at Linksys and no one responded to me. I finally demanded to speak to a manager and ended up waiting on hold for an hour, but finally got through. I got the manger to overnight me a new unit. But, god their support sucks.

Also, my V 2.5 WAP 11 cards suck. They have no range compared to my Orinoco Silver. Also, the Linksys cards don't ahve the ability to add an external antenna like the Orinoco's do.

[Sparkomatic]

I'll add my two cents to the pool here... I have a Linysys router and a Linksys v.2.2 WAP connected to it. I'm using a Socket CF card and it all works GREAT!! No problems at all. The only downside is that the Socket doesn't have drivers for Win2000 yet so I'm using Symbol drivers.

[topps]

and "performance," if you can call it that. They'd lose connections with the access point just by walking a few feet away from the access point. A few months later, Linksys released the WPC11 v2 cards which had stronger antennae and a new release of the Prism WiFi chipset. Since then, they've also released the v2.5 and now the newest v3.0 cards.

Most people just assumed that all of Linksys' wireless equipment was bad because they usually bought the WAP11 and a WPC11 card at the same time. When they saw the horrible range, they returned them both and bought another brand, which would then work fine.

Each generation of Linksys card seems to get better in terms of range and power consumption, but I got burned by an original WPC11 card, returned it, and bought an Agere (formerly Lucent) ORiNOCO Gold card to use with

Dave

We did some comparison testing of 4 units about 4 months ago and found the LinkSys cards the best of the bunch by a small margin. Others compared were Dlink, 3Com and SMP.

However, our range is not that great - sounds like we should try some others.